Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Back Bay is a bit of a touristy area of Boston with Prudential Center, Copley Square, and more, but that doesn't mean there aren't bars worthy of your visit. Here are some of my favorite places to grab a cocktail in Back Bay.

OAK Long Bar + KitchenOak Long Bar is the bar at the Fairmont Copley Square. Since it's a swanky hotel, so is the bar. The drink prices reflect that as well, but it's home to one of my favorite drinks in Boston: the Smoked Chai Manhattan. You can read more about the bar here.

NahitaNahita is worth a visit for the gorgeous interior alone, but fortunately the cocktails match the interior. The cocktail menu changes seasonally and there's usually a clarified milk punch on the menu (which is one of my favorite things!)

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Before Fort Point was the hot spot that it is now, there was Lucky's Lounge. I have to admit since it wasn't hot and new, it wasn't really on my list to check out after moving to Boston - but I'm glad I finally did.
Known for its live music and Sinatra brunches for many years, Lucky's Lounge also has a great beer list and serves surprisingly good comfort food and variations on classic cocktails.

I was pleasantly surprised at the cocktails I had here. There were seasonal Pimms cup, classic cocktails and in general a more interesting menu than what I expected. The drink was smooth and well balanced - I can recommend this place for cocktails in the Fort Point area!
The food here is comfort food with a twist, like this fried buffalo brussels sprouts with blue cheese and bacon. I'd recommend this to share with a few people, it was pretty rich with all the bacon and blue cheese!

Thursday, May 3, 2018

If you were to do a cocktail crawl in Boston, the Fenway Kenmore neighborhood is actually a great place to do it, due to the concentration of good cocktail spots in close vicinity to each other. Drink at one of these spots next time you're in the neighborhood - or just go to all of them!

The Hawthorne
Owned by Jackson Cannon and currently managed by Jared Sadoian, The Hawthorne is the cocktail lounge to go to in Boston when you want to feel fancy in a quieter spot with excellent drinks. Their oft-changing cocktail menu features well thought out classic variations. For a more casual vibe, visit them on Swizzle Sundays on the patio.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

A month or so ago, I finally visited OAK Long Bar + Kitchen for a proper cocktail tasting. I often neglect hotel bars, but I've heard good things about this particular one so I decided to try it.
I was given a special sneak peek of their spring cocktails, which at the time didn't even have names yet! I was waiting until "spring" to post about them, and I think it's finally here, right?

I started with one that really invokes spring, a cocktail that's now been named Home Grown. It's made with Gunpowder Irish gin, English pea syrup, lemon, honey.

The vegetal notes of the pea worked really well with the botanicals in the gin. But don't worry, this refreshing drink is not overly vegetal, it was tempered nicely with the honey.

The restaurant manager Will Caines did a great job pairing up the cocktails with some bites from Oak's food menu. Will was previously a bartender at Doretta Taverna.
The first drink was served alongside Avocado and crab toast (peekytoe crab, burrata, pickled jalapeno, cilantro, $18)

Friday, March 30, 2018

Thirst Boston is Boston's cocktail festival. The afternoons are filled with various workshops meant for bartender and cocktail enthusiasts. They cover molecular mixology approaches, ice carving techniques, as well as tasting seminars about cognac and other spirits. There are also seminar on woman in cocktail history and a hands-on make-your-own gin workshop that I wrote about here.

Now, why should you care about Thirst Boston? If you're not a big enough enthusiast to attend the seminars and workshops, there are still other Thirst events that will interest you! Namely, their fun cocktail-filled evening events.

One is Blender Bender, which this year will take place on Sunday, April 29 at Whiskey Saigon. The event is pits teams of local bartenders in a blended drink competition. There's always a theme to this event and the bartenders are known to go all out in costumes and garnishes! It's a big dance party with great blended drinks all night.
Last year's theme was the Gender Bender Blender Bender, and this year will be a Mad Max theme.

Friday, May 6, 2016

A new Irish bar just opened up in Boston's Brookline neighborhood, but don't expect a dive bar with nothing but Guinness. Waxy's Modern Bar + Kitchen is a modern Irish bar concept from Waxy O'Connor's, a departure from their previous old school pubs, and that means great craft brews and cocktails. The name comes form the term "waxy", which colloquially means a lucky event.
The cocktails and beer list come courtesy of James O'Brien, an Ireland native who learned the trade at New York City bars. Waxy's will feature 40 rotating beers on tap. The beer list is separated by styles (cider, sours, IPAs, etc) and feature breweries such as Founders, Sixpoint, Harpoon, Firestone Walker, Allagash, etc. Not to worry, though, they'll still have Guinness and Magner's.
As for cocktails, he's concocted some fun cocktails to fit a wide range of palates, from the Tiki-style
Shake Rattle & Rum (Three Olives Elvis coconut water vodka, The Real McCoy 5-year rum, pineapple, ginger, and Angostura bitters) ...

Sunday, April 26, 2015

The aptly named Under Fire is now open below Fire+Ice in their Boston Back Bay location. While Fire+Ice is a family friendly buffet, UnderFire is more of a bar/restaurant serving food a la carte featuring burgers and tacos.

I was invited to the opening celebration so I didn't get to try the full menu but I did try some tacos and sandwiches. Between the two, the tacos are the way to go. They're not all traditional Mexican taco recipes, but instead modernized - Americanized perhaps, but the flavors are good - incorporating ingredients like pesto in the Pollo al Pesto (fire-grilled chicken, sunflower pesto, queso fresco, diced tomato, fresh basil, EVOO, flour tortilla, $11 for 3)